Ways To Eliminate Credit Card Debt
7 easy ways to help reduce family debt and reduce debt stress
These seven easy rules will help you reduce credit card debt in your family and find freedom from credit card stress.
7 easy rules to help save money, reduce credit card debt, and reduce debt stress. All families feel the pinch when the credit card bills come in. Some years ago we decided that our credit cards were out of control and as a family the debt was causing stress. In an effort to get on top of this debt we researched ways to manage it better and came up with seven easy rules to reduce credit card debt in our household.
1. Restricted Use
The first rule was stop using the cards. We made a family decision that cards would be left at home in a safe place and the ONLY time for taking them out was when we went on holiday and then they were for emergencies only.
2. Banking Arrangements
The second rule was to change our banking arrangements. We removed the connection between our credit cards and the home loan. Fortunately we had not entered into a line-of-credit loan and this was easy. If you have a line of credit arrangement reorganise to something simpler and not so tempting. The credit card now became a stand-alone debt.
3. Automatic Payments
The third rule is to organise the minimum plus five or ten or twenty dollars to be automatically deducted from our bank account on pay day each month. You cannot spend what you don't have. This also guaranteed the minimum was taken care of plus a little extra to eat into the principle.
4. Extra Repayments
The fourth rule was to pay off even more than the minimum amount. Already the minimum was being taken out of our bank account plus a little extra. When we worked the sums we discovered that even a few dollars more than the minimum made a big difference to our debt. We put a container on the kitchen counter and every night we emptied our wallets of all coins and dollar bills. On a Friday we also added five dollar bills.
5. Extra Savings
The fifth rule was to put extra money aside. We sacrificed very little. We started a food from home campaign and every time we would have bought a cup of coffee, a cake or lunch we set aside the money instead. This was added to the container every day on topof the change and few notes.
6. Banking Habits
Visit to the bank. On a specified date, we used the first Monday of the month, one of us took the container to the bank and put the money on the credit card. It was slow at first, but soon we could see the difference and on top of that we both felt healthier from the food brought from home, but most of all we felt happier and less stressed about our debt.
7. Credit Card Offers
Refuse all credit card offers no matter how tempting.
